Supporting K-12 Teachers and Students
Click Here to Learn about ICNY's "Religious Worlds of New York" Summer Institute for Teachers
If American students are to become truly educated, engaged citizens of their multicultural democracy, they need to understand its rich religious diversity. But unfortunately too many K-12 teachers are unprepared to teach effectively about religion. As a result, too many students learn little more than the basic facts, dates, and doctrines of major religious traditions — a superficial form of religious literacy that does not prepare them to participate in American civic life.
The Interfaith Center helps K-12 teachers move beyond this “dates and doctrines” pedagogy, to richer discussions of American religious life. Classroom by classroom, the teachers we work with are transforming the study of religion in K-12 schools, and empowering a new generation of Americans to bridge the divides between their faith communities.
ICNY’s flagship course for teachers is the Religious Worlds of New York summer institute, an intensive three-week program supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Religious Worlds institute brings teachers from throughout the United States to New York City, where they work with leading scholars of religion, meet with diverse religious leaders, visit local houses of worship, explore the religious life of the city, and develop their own curriculum projects.
You can click here for detailed information about the Religious Worlds institute, including some of the overwhelmingly positive participant evaluations of our previous institutes, and a wide range of resources for teaching on religious diversity.
In addition to the Religious Worlds institute, ICNY has developed a range of programs tailored to meet the needs of teachers and students in local schools. These programs can explore the religious diversity of the city, or pedagogic issues surrounding the study of religion in public, private, and faith-based schools. For more information about our programs for teachers and students, please contact ICNY’s Director of Programs, Dr. Henry Goldschmidt, at henry@interfaithcenter.org or 212-870-3514.
